"To be frank, there's not really much to say because this puppy is a monster, but one that comes dripped in bling for a high price. With Intel dominating the high end it can charge precisely what it wants for its "enthusiast" Extreme Edition parts. "Enthusiast"? No. More money than sense and an ego to fill? Yes.

Anyone who owns one of these and doesn't drive a Ferrari to work won't have bought one - this CPU is merely a technical demo and a marketing exercise for Intel (and its partners) to flex its muscles after AMD's lukewarm attempt at competing. This CPU, while oh-so-awesome in its technology and its performance, is an economic travesty for the consumer. It's exactly the reason why we need adequate competition, and in that respect, it's like the graphics card market, for example. It's not Intel's fault, it's simple economics - supply and demand.

Any *real* "enthusiast" looking for QX9770 performance will be looking at the Core 2 Quad Q9450 with its identical 8x multiplier and rubbing their thighs in anticipation of a quick and dirty overclock from 1,333MHz (333MHz) to 1,600MHz (400MHz) front side bus. It's much the same conclusion of every Intel Core 2 Extreme Edition processor review - if you can get this kind of performance, by whatever means necessary, you will have to strap down your case because it's going to fly!

So while this CPU as a product is unattainable and too expensive, the way the Penryn architecture scales performance with clock speed clearly warrants considerable respect."